There's No Place Like Homecoming

“	Lions and Tigers and Bitches, Oh My! There's no place like Homecoming!	”
	— A

There's No Place Like Homecoming

Season: 1

Episode: 6

Information

Airdate

July 13, 2010

Written by

Maya Goldsmith

Directed by

Norman Buckley

Episode Guide
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Reality Bites Me	The Homecoming Hangover

There's No Place Like Homecoming is the sixth episode in Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on July 13, 2010, and is the sixth episode over all.

Synopsis[]

Hanna, Spencer, and Emily arrive at Aria's to console her with Chinese takeout and rag mags – thinking she's sullen from her parents' marriage troubles, when in fact she's upset over the breakup with Ezra. While discussing their plans for the homecoming dance, Hanna opens her fortune cookie to find another prank from "A" notes, cluing them into the fact that they will be attending Homecoming as well. They open all the fortune cookies, and they all include the same line. "Lions and tigers and bitches oh my! There's no place like Homecoming. See you there. -A"

At school, Hanna attends a "Real Love Waits" meeting to keep an eye on Sean and his new friend Amber. There, Hanna finds an unlikely friend in Lucas—the member's role play situations in which they would be pressured to have sex. Sean and Amber pair off, with Sean convincingly acting the part of the instigator who wants to go all the way with Amber, and Amber refuses accordingly. Hanna is called to take a turn with Lucas. Unenthusiastic, she pretends to ask Lucas to go upstairs to her room. Initially refusing to play along, he explains to the teacher that girls like Hanna don't approach guys like him in that way. The teacher responds that he has to play along. Hanna starts over, and Lucas then responds with "yes," making Hanna finally smile, and Sean looks red.

Aria tries to approach Mr. Fitz at school, but he claims to be late for a staff meeting. Maya and Emily aren't very warm towards each other either; Maya says she isn't going to homecoming, but at least the girls agree to hang out at some point.

At lunch, Spencer urges Hanna to try to steal Jenna's file from the psychiatrist's office that's in the same building as where she works, certain that it contains the key to the identity of "A" or, at the very least, what the Cavanaughs are hiding. Spencer just spotted Toby buying two tickets for Homecoming, the girls assume he will take Jenna and that lines up with the message they got from A in the fortune cookies, if Toby or Jenna is A. Mona joins the girls at lunch and asks Spencer if she is indeed taking 'the country club's towel boy', Alex, to Homecoming she says yes and Mona mocks her taking Alex, Hanna asks Mona to get her something so she leaves. Spencer says that was hurtful and asks Hanna why she is friends with Mona. Hanna explains that Mona is funny and has always been there for Hanna; Mona is just insecure. They then catch sight of Toby, who temporarily picks up his shirt long enough for the girls to spot a tattoo that says "901 Free At Last," presumably memorializing the date Alison disappeared. Still, they haven't put this together yet. Next, Toby surprises Emily with tickets to Homecoming. She's hesitant to accept because of what her friends may think, but she can't deny her growing attraction to him either.

Meanwhile, Spencer is worried about how things will go over when she brings Alex to the dance. Mona's snide comments don't help, but the PLLs are reassuring. Spencer is on the homecoming committee, so she is painting for the dance when Alex shows up to school wanting to know what Spencer is wearing so that he can buy a matching suit. He also forks over cash for their tickets; Spencer tries to refuse, but Alex insists, seductively slipping the money into her back pocket.

Then, Hanna makes a false move in nudging Maya to attend Homecoming and makes a comment that Emily wants her to come. Hanna knows that Emily is anxious about what others will think of the person Emily wants as her date to the dance, but is not prepared to hear that her date is Toby.

Later, Toby meets with Jenna, who warns Toby that Emily will hate him when she finds out his secret. Toby is resentful, but he has no choice but to lead his blind step-sister to where she needs to go.

After school, Hanna tries to sneak into the psychologist's office in Mrs. Ackard's office building, but workers are doing construction there. So, she rigs the door so that they can get back in later over the weekend. Hanna visits Aria's house later to get ready for homecoming. She comforts Aria about her family situation and tries to get her to admit who she's crushing on, but Aria remains unresponsive. Hanna tells her that a friend of Sean, Chris Buzzini, has a crush on Aria, but Aria is not into him. Hanna assumes Aria is already seeing someone, thinks it is a boy in Iceland, and insists she has to move on. Aria says Hanna could be correct, but she is obviously thinking about Ezra.

At the dance, Hanna and Spencer joke with Aria that they will share their dates with her. Spencer then catches sight of Melissa, who is attending to present the crown to the next homecoming queen, as she is a former homecoming queen herself. She tells Spencer that she knows that she stole her essay and seems intent on ruining the night for her sister.

Mona and Hanna get into a heated argument when Mona makes nasty comments to Lucas, who has come to photograph the dance for the yearbook. Hanna greets him warmly, but Mona shoos him away. After he leaves, the two argue over whether popularity is more critical than befriending nerds. Mona calls Lucas 'Hermie' because Alison called him that, and Hanna stands up for him.

Meanwhile, Melissa takes the opportunity to drive a wedge between her sister and Alex; she mocks Alex for being a lowly laborer at the Rosewood Country Club and then goes behind Spencer's back to make Alex believe that Spencer only invited him to anger their father.

Aria has to help at a game and finds Ezra in the tent. Aria and Ezra’s efforts to keep things platonic are thrown a curveball when Aria discovers that they’re both assigned the same booth to administer. There, Aria reaffirms that "A" is not a friend, only someone messing with her. Before Ezra responds, Mrs. Welch comes to relieve Aria.

Then Toby and Emily arrive at the door. Emily calms Toby, who is nervous about making an appearance; when they finally do, the other PLLs, not to mention Maya, are not thrilled. Emily is particularly surprised by Hanna's reaction, as she had seemed so supportive of Emily following her heart. Hanna then confesses that she had thought Emily was referring to Maya, but before they can continue their conversation, Toby appears.

The girls try to enjoy themselves by dancing with their dates, but then Spencer calls Hanna and Aria to convene; she figured out what Toby's tattoo means, '901 free at last', the day Alison disappeared on September 1st. They convince Hanna to steal the file. She commissions Aria to keep Sean occupied on the dance floor while Hanna slips out to his mother's office building. Outside, Hanna sees Lucas leaving early as well, so she gets him to give her a ride to the office; he confesses that he had come to the dance only to take photographs and also to cast his vote for her as homecoming queen.

Meanwhile, Spencer ignores Alex while keeping a worried eye on Toby and Emily. "A" tampers with a Tarot card at the fortune teller's booth to let Spencer know that A is also watching the pair, and that her friend is about to get it. The card says ''KISS BYE BYE TO YOUR B.F.F''. Vexed by the Hastings sisters' treatment of him, Alex eventually leaves. Melissa enjoys the situation.

Then, Toby looks at Jenna sitting by herself. At the same time, Emily approaches Maya. She accuses Emily of saying something to Hanna, which offends Maya, who then defensively insists that Hanna had said something to her. She accuses Emily of not being okay with who she is, and her suspicions are confirmed when Emily can't look her in the eye and deny her feelings for Maya. Toby picks up on Emily's hurt and realizes that he isn't Emily's first choice of a homecoming date.

On the dance floor, Aria and Sean appear to be having a good time, finally. Ezra spots them, then walks away, and Aria runs after him. Out of earshot of the dance, Ezra tells Aria that seeing Aria dancing with guys her own age makes him realize that breaking up with her was the right thing to do. At the same time, Aria's attention to Sean sends the newly-crowned Homecoming King mixed signals. Hanna misses being crowned, and Sean is photographed standing alone. She did manage to find the file, though.

Later, Toby whisks Emily away to the Chem Lab to confide in her privately about his big secret, which the girls have just uncovered in what turns out to be Toby's file that Hanna retrieved from the psychiatrist, not Jenna's. The girls realize what Alison had blackmailed Toby with to force him to take the blame for "The Jenna Thing" - she knew about Toby's sexual relationship with his step-sister. We see Jenna standing close by to the girls, eavesdropping on their conversation, unbeknownst to the PLLs. Assuming that this was Toby's motive for murder, they sent Emily a text message claiming that Toby killed Alison, making her more and more unsettled. As Toby tries to explain, she pushes him into the cabinet of beakers, injuring him badly before hurting herself as she runs away and trips on the train of her dress, hitting the hard floor and falling unconscious.

At the end of the episode, the black-gloved figure is seen vandalizing a Rosewood town sign. The figure spray paints over the last digit of the population census (7988) and changes it to 7987.

Trivia[]

This episode takes place on October 16, 2010 within the series, as evidenced by the poster Aria sees in "Please, Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone."
The text from A in the fortune cookie that Hanna reads at the beginning of the episode says: ''Lions and tigers and bitchers, oh my. There's no place like homecoming. See you there. A.''
This is the first appearance of Lucas on the show.
Keegan Allen (Toby) revealed in an interview that Toby was supposed to die in this episode but Marlene changed her mind.

Errors[]

Right before Toby comes into the cafeteria, when Mona is sitting with Hanna and Spencer, Hanna sets her lip-gloss on the table, standing up. In the next shot, it is flat on the table.
Also, when Spencer sneaks up on her, she puts the plug of the lipstick on it twice.

Title[]

The title is an obvious play on Dorothy's famous last words in Oz, "There's no place like home."

Main Cast[]

Supporting Cast[]

Co-Starring[]

Jill Holden as Mrs. Welch
Robert Keith Wyatt as Chewy
Jared Kahn as Mona's Prom Date (uncredited)
Leilani Fideler as Heather Perez (uncredited)
Scott Carnwath as Homecoming Student (uncredited)
Zachary Christopher Fay as Homecoming Student (uncredited)
Melody Miyuki Ishikawa as Rosewood Student (uncredited)

Featured Music[]

"Hold On" by St. Lola & The Fields (Aria reflects on relationship with Ezra)
"Worry About You" by 2AM Club (Aria makes entrance at dance)
"Same Night Sky" by 2AM Club (the girls can't find Emily)
"Only For Me" by 2AM Club (Hanna thought Emily was going to bring Maya)
"Make You Mine" by 2AM Club* (Hanna and Spencer dance with their dates)
"Let Me Down Easy" by 2AM Club (Hanna asks Lucas to drive her to the office)

Gallery[]

There's No Place Like Homecoming has a photo gallery.

Memorable Quotes[]

Aria: How did I just go from wearing mom jeans to being Samantha Ronson?

Spencer [to Aria]: Alone in a dark booth with Fitz? That’s like every freshman girl’s dream.

Maya: Dance music isn't really my thing. I'm not really gaga for Gaga.

Jenna [to Toby, about Emily]: You know you’re only fooling yourself, right? I mean, once she finds out the truth about you, she’ll hate you.

Mona: If we start slipping up, you and I will be right back at the bottom again.
Hanna: Yeah, well, I feel like I lost a few things on the way up.

Alison [to Toby]: Not unless you want the entire world to know how close you are with your step-sister. You talk, and I’ll make sure everybody knows you’ve been doing it with her.

Emily: I'd think you would think homecoming is lame.
Toby: It is pretty lame. But you're not.

Ezra [to Aria]: Hate you? The only person I hate right now is myself, for asking to much of you.

Jenna [about Emily]: Once she finds out the truth about you, she's gonna hate you.
Toby: Who's gonna tell her?

Aria [to Emily]: You're here with Toby?!? Unless you have some genius plan about sleeping with the enemy, what are you doing?!?

Spencer: Where's Alex?
Melissa: He left.
Spencer: What?
Melissa: He left. Do you need me to Tweet it to you?

Mona: So, is it true you're taking the Country Club's towel boy to homecoming?
Spencer: Yes, I am, and his name's Alex.
Hanna: Knock it off, Mona.
Mona: What? I think it's cute she's taking her cinderfella to the ball.